Indian employers’ and workers’ organizations forge a joint roadmap for responsible business conduct

NEW DELHI (11 Sep 2025) – In a landmark initiative, representatives from India's leading 7 employers' and 7 workers' organizations convened on 11 September 2025 for a bipartite dialogue organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO). The workshop, titled "Partnering for Progress: A Joint Roadmap for Responsible Business Conduct," aimed to build a common understanding and develop a joint roadmap for advancing Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) and decent work in India's supply chains. The dialogue successfully concluded with an agreement on a draft joint roadmap, outlining shared priorities for future action.

The discussions, structured around the five pillars of the ILO's Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration), revealed a substantive convergence of priorities between employers and workers in several key areas. Participants from both sides agreed on the need for joint action to promote a shared understanding of RBC principles, with necessary attention to the needs of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Other key areas of convergence included ensuring fair employment practices, collaborating on skills development to support a 'just transition' for workers in the face of technological and green transitions, strengthening workplace cooperation, and enhancing bipartite and tripartite social dialogue to foster mature industrial relations.

This initiative marks a significant milestone, representing the first of its kind peak-level bipartite dialogue towards operationalizing the principles of RBC in India. By developing a unified position, employers' and workers' organizations can more effectively engage with the government to shape a national ecosystem for responsible business that drives both competitiveness and social justice. Referring to the draft outcomes, Mr Sougata Roy Choudhury, Director General, Employers’ Federations of India (EFI), described the dialogue as "extremely useful and timely," while Mr Saji Narayanan, Former President, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), highlighted the commitment to constructive dialogue on a balanced approach that respects both business needs and workers’ rights.

In follow-up to the workshop, the ILO will facilitate further review and refinement of the draft roadmap with workers’ and employers’ organizations towards their formal endorsement. The roadmap will serve as a foundational document for wider multi-stakeholder consultations on operationalizing RBC principles in India. The outcomes will also guide the ILO's future technical support and capacity-building activities for its constituents in India.

The workshop was organized as part of the ILO project, "Building Responsible Value Chains in Asia through the Promotion of Decent Work in Business Operations - Phase II," which is funded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan. The project aims to promote inclusive, responsible and sustainable enterprises and decent work in supply chains through capacity-building programmes for enterprises and ILO’s constituents - government, employers and workers - in four Asian countries including India.